Google Wonder Wheel

I took me a minute to figure out that the links on the right-hand side of the page were search results and not adwords ads. I'm still distrustful of them because I associate their location so strongly with advertisements.

This has been present on google for months now; a quick search shows Labs announcing it May 24, 2009. That this is making HN now goes to show that most people still don't use the "Show Options" search modifications in the left sidebar, instead refining their search through additional words and search autocomplete.

I find it interesting that Google continues to hide these in a user-initiated sidebar in the interest of "sparse", while Y! and Bing now show search refinements by default.

I hadn't seen it either, although after a few minutes of playing around with it I can't help but think it'd be more useful if following a node included the context of the original search - as it is it's very hard to narrow down on anything, which is what searching is surely all about?

For anyone working on SEO, paid search campaigns, or just performing research on competing products/sites, this is an invaluable tool. It provides some great suggestions for keywords that you should rank highly for/buy.

Searching for "Google" doesn't produce a wheel. "Bing" and "yahoo" do though.

It looks very similar to what Directed Edge folks have done: http://directededge.com/

It's my understanding that wonder wheel is aimed more at advertisers looking for additional search terms on which to place bids.

The words in the wheel seem to be the same as the related searches. So this is just an alternative way to present related searches.

The words in the wheel seem to be the same as the related searches. So this is just an alternative way to present related searches.

Why not go cricket-style and call it the "Google Wagon Wheel"?

"Wagon wheel" is a better metaphor -- I know what that is.

Quintura used to be very similar.

Wow! That's really cool. I can't believe I hadn't seen it before.

That's great fun. New twist on an old internet favourite - I've just found a trail from James K. Polk to Kevin Bacon. (Well, "Kevin Bacon Filmography").

Not ever so easy since you can only go via the links offered, but I went presidents -> high schools named after presidents -> school athletic districts -> normal districts -> cities, and then the breakthrough change from City of Murphy (a place) to City of Heroes (a computer game) and from there to City of Villains, Batman Villains, Batman films, Actors.

Er, yes. anyway. cough.